More than five years after he emerged as a central figure in former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s attempted sale of a U.S. Senate seat, longtime political fundraiser Raghuveer Nayak was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for paying bribes to doctors to send patients to surgery centers he owns.

In handing down a sentence that was well under the 5 to 6½-year range requested by prosecutors, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said he did not give much weight to Nayak’s role in the Blagojevich scandal because it was ancillary to the health-care bribery scheme.

Still, the judge said he found it disturbing that Nayak violated the trust of patients who should expect that the decisions their doctors make are in their best interest and not influenced by side deals.

“When it comes to the doctor-patient relationship, we all rely on our physicians to make the best recommendation possible,” said Gettleman, who ordered Nayak to pay the maximum fine of $500,000 as well as $23,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Nayak was approached by federal agents on the day of the governor’s arrest and decided to cooperate with authorities in a bid for leniency. Nayak's associate Rajinder Bedi ended up testifying at both Blagojevich trials, alleging he and Nayak allegedly talked to then-U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. at an October 2008 meeting at a Loop restaurant about raising campaign cash for Blagojevich in return for Jackson’s appointment to succeed newly elected President Barack Obama in the Senate.

Blagojevich was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Jackson denied the allegations and was never charged in that case, but federal prosecutors in Washington later charged him and his wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson, with misusing campaign funds. Both pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to prison.Prosecutors alleged that for more than a decade, Nayak doled out more than $80,000 in cash bribes and paid for more than $3 million in advertising for doctors in return for referrals to his surgery centers in Chicago and Indiana.

Though Nayak was never charged in the Blagojevich scandal, prosecutors In a court filing last month asked Gettleman to consider it because it showed his “willingness to corrupt.”

“In both contexts, he has proved that he believes money buys influence,” prosecutors said.

Nayak, 59, tearfully apologized Monday in court for letting down his family and community.

“These mistakes are mine and mine only,” said Nayak, bowing his head as more than two dozen family members and supporters looked on. “I stand before you asking for forgiveness.”

Nayak’s sentencing hearing played out over more than four days as his attorneys pounded away at the credibility of Nayak’s associate Bedi, a political fundraiser whom the former governor referred to as “my Sikh warrior." Bedi claimed he’d accepted millions of dollars in checks from Nayak and then kicked back 70 percent in cash to help fund the bribery scheme. Last week prosecutors withdrew the kickback allegation.

But on Monday Nayak’s lawyer, Thomas McQueen, suggested to the judge that Bedi may have also lied on the witness stand at Blagojevich’s corruption trials. To corroborate Bedi’s information, prosecutors then threatened to reveal Nayak’s confidential interviews with federal agents after Blagojevich’s arrest. The proffer agreements are negotiated between prosecutors and defense attorneys and are almost never revealed in court proceedings.

McQueen later agreed to strike from the record what he had said about Bedi’s testimony to get prosecutors to back off their threat.

“So do you want your proffer statement back?” asked Gettleman, holding up the 18-page document as spectators broke into laughter in the courtroom.

The fraud schemes of an influential Chicago businessman who figured in the downfall of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich demonstrates a pay-to-play mentality that should be punished by up to 7 years in prison, prosecutors said today in a court filing.

Raghuveer Nayak, an influential Chicago businessman who figured in the downfalls of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and ex-U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., pleaded guilty today in his own criminal case to federal fraud charges related to a string of surgery centers he owns.

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